Despite not seeing the playing field for nearly a month after its ACC Championship win over North Carolina on Dec. 3, Clemson’s defense is more than ready to hit the ground running ahead of Friday night’s Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium.

Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. spoke with the media on Wednesday ahead of the matchup and said that while it’s been quite some time since the Tigers played on the big stage, the defensive mentality is as strong as ever. In fact, Trotter believes the gradual improvements Wes Goodwin’s defense has seen this fall will be what gives the Tigers the edge in the end over a talented and quick-tempoed Tennessee offense.

“I feel like we’ve been keeping the same type of mentality,” Trotter told TCI. “I definitely feel like we’ve progressed all the way up to this point, getting better game by game. I feel like we’re really prepared for this Tennessee offense. Our mindset is there, our effort’s going to be there, our conditioning is going to be there, and I feel like it’s going to show up on gameday.”

As for how Clemson plans to approach the transition to game prep this week after a long few weeks away, it’s all about just dialing back in and getting back into a groove — a groove that is all too familiar for Trotter and his teammates at this point in the season.

“Really just getting back in the groove,” Trotter said. “We’ll do our practice this week and we really try to have a game-set mentality. Try to really get back to that physical-type mindset after having all those weeks off and get back to our conditioning, make sure our conditioning’s there. It’s really just having that mindset and changing that frame of mind from having those longer days off to getting back to work.”

No. 7 Clemson takes the field against sixth-ranked Tennessee in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Friday, Dec. 30 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPN.

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